Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 25 billion songs from the iTunes Store. The 25 billionth song, "Monkey Drums" (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. As the downloader of the 25 billionth song, Phillip will receive a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card. The company also noted that the iTunes Store now offers over 26 million songs and is available in 119 countries.

I'm not trying to be smart, but I'm thinking the next 25 billion downloads are going to come a lot slower for Apple. Most people that I know are using either Spotify or Rdio to get their music these days. That is why I really think that Apple needs a subscription service going forward. I just think they are sort of losing the next generation of music listeners with just downloads. I know that I have pretty much moved on from them.